Character display method, information recording medium and entertainment apparatus

ABSTRACT

To smoothly the facial expressions of a character from a first facial expression to a second facial expression, an entertainment system executes the following processing. Reading the image data of the first facial expression in which plural control points are set, the image data of the second facial expression in which plural control points are set, and the image data of a third facial expression. Setting the same number of control points as those of the image data of the first facial expression to the image data of the third facial expression, generating a sequence of image data of inbetween facial expressions between the image data of the first facial expression and the image data of the third facial expression on the basis of the control points of the image data of the first facial expression and the control points of the image data of the third facial expression (first morphing). Setting the same number of control points as those of the image data of the second facial expression to the image data of the third facial expression, and generating a sequence of inbetween image data of facial expressions between the image data of the third facial expression and the image data of the second facial expression on the basis of the control points of the image data of the third facial expression and the control points of the image data of the second facial expression (second morphing).

[0001] This application is based on Japanese Patent Application No.2000-54939 filed on Feb. 29, 2000, and No. 2001-037261 filed on Feb. 14,2001 the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by referencefor all purposes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] Among video games in which the behaviors (actions) of charactersdisplayed on a game screen can be controlled by a game player, there aregames in which a game story progresses in accordance with a rule such asa predetermined scenario or the like. In such a video game, variouscharacters appear as well as the characters to be controlled by the gameplayer. Facial expressions of these characters are generally varied inaccordance with the progress of the video game. Therefore, the imagedata of various facial expressions are prepared for each character. Forexample, in order to vary the facial expression of some character from atearful face to a smiling face as shown in FIG. 1, not only the imagedata 1000 of the tearful face and the image data 1002 of the smilingface, but also plural intermediate image data 1001-1 to 1001-nexpressing various transient faces in the shift process from the tearfulface to the smiling face are prepared in advance. If the facialexpression of the character concerned is further varied to anotherfacial expression, the image data of another facial expression and alsothe plural intermediate image data expressing transient faces in theshift process to another facial expression has to be further prepared inadvance. By successively displaying such a series of image data, thecharacter looks to the game player as if the facial expression of thecharacter on the game screen is varied.

[0003] For example, if the series of the image data shown in FIG. 1 aresuccessively displayed in the following order: the tearful face imagedata 1000→the intermediate image data 1001-1→the intermediate image data1001-2→ . . . →the intermediate image data 1001-(n−1) the intermediateimage data 1001-n→the smiling face image data 1002, the facialexpression of the character on the game screen looks to the game playeras if it is varied from the tearful face to the smiling face. Here, inorder to make the variation of the facial expression of the character onthe game screen look smoother, the number of the intermediate image data1001-1 to 1001-n of the transient facial expressions under the shiftprocess has to be increased.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0004] An object of the present invention is to enable the facialexpression of any character on the display screen to smoothly vary intovarious facial expressions without preparing the image data of a largenumber of the facial expressions.

[0005] In order to attain the object, there is provided a program formaking a program-executable system execute processing of varying thefacial expression of a character displayed on a display screen from afirst facial expression to a second facial expression, the processing tobe executed by the system on the basis of the program comprises:processing of reading the image data of the first facial expression inwhich plural control points are set, the image data of the second facialexpression in which plural control points are set and the image data ofa third facial expression used when the facial expression of thecharacter is varied; first setting processing of setting control pointshaving the same number as those of the image data of the first facialexpression to the image data of the third facial expression; a firstmorphing processing of generating image data of a sequence of facialexpressions which appear between the image data of the first facialexpression and the image data of the third facial expression, on thebasis of the control points of the image data of the first facialexpression and the control points of the image data of the third facialexpression after execution of the first setting processing; secondsetting processing of newly setting control points having the samenumber as those of the image data of the second facial expression to theimage data of the third facial expression after execution of the firstmorphing processing; and second morphing processing of generating imagedata of a sequence of facial expressions which appear between the imagedata of the third facial expression and the image data of the secondfacial expression, on the basis of the control points of the image dataof the third facial expression and the control points of the image dataof the second facial expression after executing of the second settingstep.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0006]FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing a series of image datarequired to vary the facial expression of a character in the relatedart;

[0007]FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing an entertainmentsystem according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0008]FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram showing information stored instorage means of FIG. 2;

[0009]FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram showing a data structure ofinformation stored in a facial expression file of FIG. 3;

[0010]FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram showing the image data of a facialexpression of a character in which a control point group is set;

[0011]FIG. 6 is a conceptual diagram showing the image data of anotherfacial expression of the character in which a control point group isset;

[0012]FIG. 7 is a conceptual diagram showing the image data of anotherfacial expression of the character in which a control point group isset;

[0013]FIG. 8 is a diagram for showing two-step morphing processingaccording to the embodiment of the present invention;

[0014]FIG. 9 is a diagram for sowing the two-step morphing processingaccording to the embodiment of the present invention;

[0015]FIG. 10 is a conceptual diagram showing a data structure of atable required for a video game according to the embodiment of thepresent invention;

[0016]FIG. 11 is a conceptual diagram showing the data structure ofanother table required to the video game according to the embodiment ofthe present invention;

[0017]FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing processing to be executed by theentertainment system while playing the video game according to theembodiment of the present invention;

[0018]FIG. 13 is an external view of the entertainment apparatusaccording to the embodiment of the present invention, and its peripheraldevices; and

[0019]FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram showing a hardware construction ofthe entertainment system according to the embodiment of the presentinvention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0020] Preferred embodiments according to the present invention will bedescribed with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0021]FIG. 2 shows the main part of a functional structure implementedby an entertainment system etc. according to the present invention.

[0022] In FIG. 2, reference numeral 101 represents operating means forreceiving various instructions, etc. of a game player, reference numeral102 represents storage means for storing a game program, data for thegame, etc., reference numeral 103 represents game executing means forexecuting the game program loaded from the storage means 102, andreference numeral 104 represents display means for displaying an imagein accordance with an instruction of the game executing means 103.

[0023] When the game player inputs various instructions, etc. into theoperating means 101, the operation information corresponding to theoperation content of the game player is transmitted from the operatingmeans 101 to the game executing means 103. The game executing means 103carries out the progress processing of the game on the basis of the gameprogram, the data for the game loaded from the storage means 102, andthe operation information from the operating means 101, and also itgenerates an image to be displayed as a game scene and controls thedisplay means 104 to display the image.

[0024] Here, the game executing means 103 may be implemented by hardwaresuch as CPU (Central Processing Unit), GPU (Graphic Processing Unit), amemory, or the like. The storage means 102 may be implemented byhardware such as CD-ROM (Compact Disk-Read Only Memory), a hard disc,DVD (Digital Video Disk) or the like. The operating means 101 may beimplemented by a controller having various operating tools such asbuttons, etc., or the like. The display means 104 may be implemented bya monitor device using CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) or the like, a televisiondevice or the like. The detailed construction of the-above describedhardware will be described later.

[0025] In this embodiment, the display means 104 is implemented by thedevice which is separated from the body of the entertainment apparatus,however, the device implementing the display means 104 may be integratedwith the body of the entertainment apparatus. For example, in accordancewith the using style of the entertainment system, for the domesticpurpose or the business purpose or the like, it is determined whetherthe device constituting the display means 104 should be integrated withthe body of the entertainment apparatus or not.

[0026] In this embodiment, the facial expression of the character can besmoothly varied without preparing the image data of a large number offacial expressions. For this purpose, the game executing means 103varies the facial expression of the character by using the morphingtechnique in this embodiment. According to the morphing technique, twoimage data are set as the first and last frames respectively, and thenplural frames that appear during the variation from the first frame tothe last frame are generated by data processing. Therefore, animatedimage data of scenes in which one of the two frames is varied to anotherframe is obtained by using the morphing technique. In this embodiment,in order to support variation to any facial expression, the variation ofthe facial expression of the character is divided into two steps, andthe morphing processing is carried out in each step. This processingwill be described in detail hereunder.

[0027] As shown in FIG. 3, a game program 201 and a graphic file group202 are stored in the storage means 102.

[0028] Image data of characters, backgrounds, etc. are stored in thegraphic file group 202. The graphic file group 202 is loaded andreferred to by the game executing means 103. When a display object andits display position are determined, the game executing means 103 refersto the graphic file group 202 to generate a game scene, and controls thedisplay means 104 to display the game scene.

[0029] The graphic file group 202 as described above contains a file 203in which image data of plural kinds of facial expressions of charactersappearing on the stage of the video game are stored. This file 203 willbe referred to as “facial expression file”. As shown in FIG. 4, in thefacial expression file 203 are stored the image data 302-1 to 302-n ofplural kinds of facial expressions of the characters such as the imagedata of a smiling face, the image data of a tearful face, the image dataof an angry face, etc. for every character identifier 301. Further, theimage data 303 of facial expressions, which are used as references whenthe facial expression of a character is varied, are further stored inthe facial expression file 203 for every character identifier 301. Thisimage data 303 will be described hereunder referred to as “referenceimage data”.

[0030] The processing of this embodiment is characterized in that thegame executing means 103 refers to the facial expression file 203 tovary the facial expressions of the characters. This processing will bedescribed hereunder by giving an example of a case where the facialexpression of a character is varied from a tearful face to a smilingface.

[0031] In order to vary the facial expression of the character from thetearful face to the smiling face by using the convensional morphingtechnique, only the image data of the tearful face and the smiling faceare prepared as an anchor object and target object in advance, and thecontrol points A1, A2, A3, . . . , B1, B2, B3, . . . are set to thefeatures (for example, edge of eyes or mouth, etc.) on the images 400,403 expressed by the respective image data as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6.Here, each control point A1, A2, A3, . . . set to the image 400 of thetearful face is associated with any one of the control points set to theimage 403 of the smiling face. Specifically, the control point A1 andthe control point B1 are associated with each other, the control pointA2 and the control point B2 are associated with each other, the controlpoint A3 and the control point B3 are associated with each other, andthe control point A4 and the control point B4 are associated with eachother. The intermediate points are continuously generated byinterpolating the positions between the control points A1, A2, A3, . . .of the tearful face image 400 and the corresponding control points B1,B2, B3, . . . of the smiling face image 403 (inbetween interpolation) toobtain a sequence of inbetween image data from the tearful face 400 tothe smiling face 403. The displacement of each of pixels which do notcorrespond to the control points is calculated by averaging thedisplacements of the plural control points near to the pixel concerned.

[0032] By displaying inbetween image data every time the inbetween imagedata are obtained by the inbetween interpolation as described above, thefacial expression of the character can be varied from the tearful faceto the smiling face. The inbetween interpolation is carried out at apredetermined number of times.

[0033] When the facial expression of the character is varied from thetearful face to the smiling face by the conventional morphing techniqueas described above, nothing is needed except that only the anchor objectand the target object are prepared in advance, and thus it is notrequired to beforehand prepare the inbetween image data in the processof metamorphosis of the anchor object into the target object.

[0034] However, when the conventional morphing technique is merely used,it is required to equalize the numbers of the control points on theimages of the respective facial expressions before and after thevariation of the facial expression. Because, the morphing processingcannot be carried out, if the control points on the image data beforethe variation are not associated with the control points on the imagedata after the variation in one-to-one correspondence. Therefore, inorder to support various variations of the facial expressions ofcharacters, it is required that the same number of control points as thefeatures on the image data expressing the most complicated shape in theimage data prepared in advance (the tearful face image data, the smilingface image data, etc.) are set to another image data expressing a simpleshape. For example, when the features on the smiling face image 403 arespecified with the five control points A1, A2, A3, . . . as shown inFIG. 6, even if three control points C1, C2, C3 is sufficient to specifythe features on the tearful face image 400 having fewer features thanthat of smiling face image as shown in FIG. 7, five control points B1,B2, B3, . . . whose number is equal to the number of the control pointsA1, A2, A3, . . . on the smiling face image 403 need to be set to thetearful face image 400 as shown in FIG. 5 in order to carry out themorphing processing.

[0035] If the conventional morphing processing is merely used asdescribed above, attention needs to be paid to the setting of thecontrol point group at the stage that the image data are prepared. Onthe other hand, according to the processing of this embodiment, thecontrol points can be set to each image data with paying no attention tothe number of control points on the other image data at the stage thatthe image data used for the morphing processing are prepared. That is,according to this embodiment, the control points can be set inassociation with the features on an image represented by each imagedata. This is implemented by storing the reference image data 303 in afacial expression data table 203 and executing the two-step morphingprocessing with the reference image data 303, as described below.

[0036] For example, when the facial expression of a character is variedfrom the tearful face image 400, whose features are specified with thethree control points C1, C2, C3, to the smiling face image 403, whosefeatures are specified with the five control points B1, B2, B3, B4, B5as shown in FIG. 8, the game executing means 103 first sets the firsttearful face image data 400 and the reference image data 303 as theanchor object and the target object respectively, and obtains a sequenceof inbetween frames from the anchor object to the target object, throughthe first-step morphing processing. Specifically, the control pointsC′1, C′2, C′3 whose number is equal to that of the control points C1,C2, C3 on the tearful face image 400 before the variation (deformation)are set to the reference image 303, and then the intermediate pointsbetween the control points C1, C2, C3 on the tearful face image 400 andthe corresponding control points C′1, C′2, C′3 onf the reference image303 are continuously generated by executing the inbetween interpolationat a predetermined number of times. Further, the displacement of eachpixel which does not correspond to any control point is calculated byaveraging the displacements of the plural control points located near tothe pixel. Through this processing, a sequence of inbetween image data401 (401-1, 401-2, . . . ) from the tearful face 400 to the referenceimage 303 can be obtained.

[0037] Next, in the second-step morphing processing, the game executingmeans 103 sets the reference image data 303 and the smiling face imagedata 403 as the anchor object and the target object, and obtains asequence of inbetween frames from the anchor object to the targetobject. Specifically, the control points B′1, B′2, B′3, B′4, B′5 whosenumber is equal to that of the control points B1, B2, B3, B4, B5 on thesmiling face image 403 after the variation (deformation) are set to thereference image 303, and then the intermediate points between thecontrol points B′1, B′2, B′3, B′4, B′5 of the reference image 303 andthe corresponding control points B1, B2, B3, B4, B5 of the smiling faceimage 403 are continuously generated by executing the inbetweeninterpolation at a predetermined number of times. Further, thedisplacement of each pixel which does not correspond to any controlpoint is calculated by averaging the displacements of the plural controlpoints located near to the pixel. Through this processing, a sequence ofinbetween image data 402 ( . . . , 401-(n−1), 401-n) between thereference image 303 and the smiling face 403 can be obtained.

[0038] During the execution of the two-step morphing process asdescribed above, every time the game executing means 103 obtainsinbetween image data, it displays the inbetween image data, whereby thefacial expression of the any character can be finally varied from thetearful face to the smiling face.

[0039] As described above, according to the processing of thisembodiment, the facial expression of the character can be varied withoutpreparing the inbetween image data between two images in advance.Further, even when the number of control points on image data before andafter the variation of the facial expression is different among existingfacial expression image data such as smiling face image data, tearfulface image data, angry face image data, etc. which are prepared inadvance, the facial expression of any character can be smoothly variedfrom one of the facial expressions to another facial expression.Accordingly, the control points can be set to each image data withoutpaying attention to the number of control points on the other imagedata.

[0040] In this embodiment, the present invention is applied to thefacial expression variation of the characters in a video game, however,the present invention is not limited to the facial expression variationof the characters in the video game. For example, the present inventionmay be applied to a case where the shape deformation between two patternimages 500, 502 which are different in number of control points isimplemented by the morphing processing as shown in FIG. 9. Like theabove case, the two-step morphing processing is executed in this case.

[0041] Specifically, first control points 501A1 to 501A4 whose number isequal to that of control points 500A1 to 500A4 of a first pattern image500 are set to a reference pattern image 501, and then the firs patternimage 500 is varied to the reference pattern image 501 through thefirst-step morphing processing. With this processing, a sequence ofinbetween image data between the first, pattern image 500 and thereference pattern image 501 are generated. Thereafter, control points501B1 to 501B12 whose number is equal to that of control points 502B1 to502B12 of the second image pattern 502 are newly set to the referencepattern image 501, and then the reference pattern image 501 is varied tothe second pattern image 502 through the second-step morphingprocessing. With this processing, a sequence of inbetween image databetween the reference pattern image 501 and the second pattern image 502are generated.

[0042] Here, the display timing according to this embodiment will bedescribed by citing a case in a specific progress of a game.

[0043] There is cited such a video game in which a character (i.e.,player character), who is an operating object of a game player throws aball at other characters. This video game adopts such a rule that thefacial expression of a character that the ball hit is varied inaccordance with the color of the ball. It is needless to say that thefollowing case is an example and thus the video game to which thepresent invention is applied is not limited to the above video game.

[0044] In this example, not only the facial expression file, etc. asdescribed above, but also two tables are required to be stored in thestorage means 102. As shown in FIG. 10, each color name 801 of the balland the name 802 of each facial expression of a character which appearsafter the ball having the color hit at the character are stored inassociation with each other in one table 800. Further, as shown in FIG.11, the identifiers 901 of the characters other than the playercharacter and the names 902 of the current facial expressions of thesecharacters are stored in association with each other in the other table900.

[0045] When recognizing that the ball hit a character other than theplayer character, the game executing means 103 executes the followingprocessing as shown in FIG. 12. That is, the game executing means 103judges the color of the ball that hit the character (step 1001), andsearches the facial expression name associated with the color of theball from the stored information of the table 800 (step 1002).

[0046] Thereafter, the game executing means 103 searches from the storedinformation of the table 900 the current facial expression nameassociated with the identifier of the character hit by the ball (step1003), and compares the facial expression name thus obtained with thefacial expression name obtained in the step 1002 (step 1004).

[0047] As a result, if the facial expression name obtained in the step1003 and the facial expression name obtained in the step 1002 areidentical to each other, it would be unnecessary to vary the facialexpression of the character hit by the ball. Therefor, the gameexecuting means 103 generates a game scene without executing themorphing processing and controls the display means 104 to display thegame scene.

[0048] On the other hand, if the facial expression name obtained in thestep 1003 is different from that obtained in the step 1002, it isnecessary to vary the facial expression of the character who was hit bythe ball, and thus image data required to execute the second-stepmorphing processing described with reference to FIG. 8 are read from thefacial expression file 203 (step 1005). Specifically, there are read outthe image data of the current facial expression name obtained in thestep 1003, the image data of the facial expression name obtained in thestep 1002 and the reference image data out of the image data associatedwith the identifier of the character who was hit by the ball.Thereafter, the second-step morphing processing as described withreference to FIG. 8 is executed by using these three image data (step1006). Specifically, the first-step morphing processing for varying thecurrent facial expression image to the reference image is executed, andthen the second-step morphing processing for varying the reference imageto the last facial expression image is executed. During the execution ofthe two-step morphing processing as described above, every time the gameexecuting means 103 obtains inbetween image data by the inbetweeninterpolation, the game executing means 103 develops a game scene fromthe inbetween image data, and controls the display means 104 to displaythe game scene, whereby the facial expression of the character who washit by the ball is varied in accordance with the color of the ball. Theinformation 902 of the table 900 is renewed on the basis of the currentfacial expression name of the character.

[0049] In the foregoing description, the facial expression of thecharacter who was hit by the ball thrown by the player character isvaried. However, an event which provides a timing of varying the facialexpression of the character is not necessarily limited to the player'saction of throwing a ball to hit some character. For example, it may beother actions such as the contact between the player character and someother object, etc.

[0050] Further, in the foregoing description, the variable object in thegame is limited to the facial expression of the character. However, thevariable object is not necessarily limited to the facial variation ofthe character as described above. The variable object in the game may bedetermined in accordance with the game story or the like. For example,when the variable object is a pattern shape, information indicating thecurrent shape of a pattern and information indicating the shape of thepattern after deformation may be stored in the table in advance as inthe case that the variable object is the facial expression of acharacter. In this case, only when the current shape indicated by theinformation stored in the table at the time when an event providing thestart timing of the shape variation of a pattern occurs is differentfrom the shape after the deformation, that is, only when it is necessaryto vary the shape of the pattern, the two-step morphing processing canbe executed.

[0051] Next, a hardware construction of the entertainment system whichcan implement the functional construction shown in FIG. 2 will bedescribed hereunder.

[0052] The functional construction shown in FIG. 2 can be implemented byconnecting an operating device (controller) 20, a monitor 31 and aspeaker 32 to the entertainment apparatus 1 which can execute theprograms of video games as shown in FIG. 13. FIG. 13 shows a case wherea television set 30 is used as the monitor 31 and the speaker 32.

[0053] The entertainment apparatus 1 loads a game program recorded in anoptical disc such as CD-ROM or the like and executes the game program inaccordance with the operation of a game player. The body 2 of theentertainment apparatus 1 is provided with a disc mount portion 3 inwhich the optical disc serving as a recording medium having the gameprogram recorded therein is mounted, a reset switch 4 for freelyresetting the video game, a power source switch 5, a disc operatingswitch 6 for operating the mounting of the optical disc, and a slotportion (two slot portions 7A, 7B in this case).

[0054] The operating device 20 for accepting an input from a player maybe detachably connected to the controller connection portion (9 in FIG.14) of each slot portion 7A, 7B. Accordingly, if the connectors of theoperating devices are mounted in each of two controller connectionportions, the game can be played by two players. Further, an auxiliarystorage device (memory card device 10 in FIG. 14 or the like) which canload and save game data (setting data, etc. for the game), anotherportable electronic equipment, etc. may be connected to the memory cardconnection portion (8 in FIG. 14) of each slot portion 7A, 7B.

[0055] The memory card 10 and the portable electronic equipment can bedetached from the memory card connection portion 8 under the state thatthe main body of the apparatus is kept powered on. Accordingly, when thestorage capacity of the memory card 10 being connected to the memorycard connection portion 8 becomes insufficient or the like, the playercan exchange the memory card 10 connected to the memory card connectionportion 8 for a new one while the body of the apparatus is kept poweredon.

[0056] Further, an audio output terminal for the speaker 32, a videooutput terminal for the monitor 31, etc. are provided to the back sideof the entertainment apparatus 1 (not shown).

[0057] The hardware construction in the entertainment system isschematically shown in FIG. 14, for example.

[0058] In the entertainment apparatus 1 are accommodated a controlsystem 50, a graphic system 60, a sound system 70, an optical disccontrol system 80, a communication control system 90, parallel I/Ointerface (not shown) and serial I/O interface (not shown) forconnection to other equipments, a bus for mutually connecting theseparts, etc. The details of these parts 50, 60, 70, 80 and 90 are asfollows.

[0059] The control system 50 is equipped with a central processing unit(CPU) 51 for controlling the overall entertainment system, a peripheraldevice controller 52 for executing various control processing(interruption control processing, control processing of dynamic memoryaccess (DMA) transmission, etc.), a main memory 53 comprising a randomaccess memory (RAM), a read only memory (ROM) 54 in which controlprograms executed by CPU 51 (a so-called operating system program, etc.)are stored, etc.

[0060] When the entertainment apparatus 1 is powered on, the CPU 51loads the operating system from ROM 54 to the main memory 53 andexecutes the operating system, thereby starting the control of theoverall entertainment system such as the graphic system 60, the soundsystem 70, etc. Further, when starting the operating system, the CPU 51executes the initial processing such as operation check, etc., and loadsan application program from the optical disc in the disc mount portion 3to the main memory 53 to start the application program thus loaded,whereby the game processing defined by the application program isstarted. RISC-CPU may be used as the CPU 51.

[0061] By executing the game program in CPU 51, the graphic system 60,the sound system 70, etc. are controlled in accordance with theinstructions from the game player to control the display of an image,the generation of music sounds, effective sounds, etc.

[0062] The peripheral device controller 52 executes not only theinterruption control processing, but also dynamic memory access (DMA)transmission processing of directly transmitting data between respectiveparts (the main memory 53, the GPU 62, an image decoder 64, a decoder82, etc.) without passing through CPU 51. Accordingly, the load imposedon the CPU 51 due to the data transmission is lowered, and thus the datatransmission speed in a program read-out operation, an image displayoperation or an image drawing operation can be increased.

[0063] Further, the graphic system 60 is equipped with a geometrytransfer engine (GTE) 61, a graphic processing unit (GPU) 62, a framebuffer 63, an image decoder 64, a video output terminal, etc.

[0064] The GTE 61 executes processing such as a matrix operation, avector operation, etc. for coordinate transformation in response to arequest from the CPU 51. For example, in rendering processing of athree-dimensional space, the GTE 61 carries out the perspectivetransformation of projecting a three-dimensional object approximatelyexpressed by plural polygons onto a virtual camera screen, that is, theprojection transformation of the respective vertexes coordinate of theplural polygons. If the GTE 61 is equipped with a parallel operatingmechanism of executing plural operations in parallel, the coordinatetransformation, the perspective transformation and the processing ofcalculating the light source, etc. can be performed at higher speed.

[0065] The frame buffer 63 comprises so-called a dual port RAM. That is,the drawing operation of GPU 62 or the data transmission from the mainmemory 53 can be performed simultaneously with the read-out operationfor display. Not only an area for storing image information output as avideo output from the monitor 31, but also an area for storing a colorlookup table (CLUT) which is accessed by the GPU 62 when the drawingprocessing is performed is kept in the frame buffer 63.

[0066] In response to a command from CPU 51, the GPU 62 performs (1) theprocessing of the image information into the frame buffer 63 whileproperly using the GTE 61, (2) the processing of reading out the contentof the frame buffer 63, converting the content thus read out to a videosignal and then outputting the video signal from the video terminal,etc.

[0067] In response to a request from the CPU 51, the image decoder 64reads image data of a still image, a moving picture or the like from themain memory 53, decodes the image data thus read and then stores thedecoded image data into the main memory 53. This reproduced image dataare stored in the frame buffer 63 by the GPU 62, and used as abackground image.

[0068] The sound system 70 is equipped with an SPU (Sound ProcessingUnit) 71 for generating music sounds, effective sounds, etc. in responseto an instruction from the CPU 51, a sound buffer 72 in which waveformdata, etc. are stored by SPU 71, an audio output terminal, etc. The SPU71 has a function of decoding audio data, a function of reproducing thewaveform data stored in the sound buffer 72 directly or after modulatingthe waveform, etc. The music sounds, the effective sounds, etc.generated by the SPU 71 are output from the speaker 32 through the audiooutput terminal.

[0069] Further, the optical disc controller 80 is equipped with anoptical disc device 81, a decoder 82, a buffer 83 and a sub CPU 84connected to the decoder 82.

[0070] The optical disc device 81 reproduces recording signals (theapplication program, the audio waveform data, etc.) from an optical discmounted in the disc mount portion 3, and the decoder 82 decodes areproduction signal with an error correction code (ECC), for example. Datafrom the optical disc device 81 is temporarily stored in the buffer 83,thereby increasing the speed of the data read-out from the optical disc.

[0071] A communication control system 90 is equipped with acommunication controller 91 connected to the slot portions 7A, 7Bdescribed above. The communication controller 91 controls thecommunications between the device mounted in the memory card connectionportion 8 (the memory card 10, the portable electronic equipment or thelike) and the CPU 51 and the communications between the operating device20 mounted in the controller connection portion 9 and the CPU 51. Whenit is necessary to save the setting data of the video game beingexecuted or the like, the communication controller 91 writes the datainto the memory contained in the memory card 26 or the portableelectronic equipment connected to the memory card portion 8 under thecontrol of the CPU 51.

[0072] As shown in FIG. 13, the operating device 20 connected to thecontrol connection portion 9 has plural keys 21A, 21B, 22A, 22B, 22C,22D, 23 for accepting the operation of the game player. In accordancewith the instruction from the communication controller 91, the operatingdevice 20 transmits the status of these keys. The communicationcontroller 91 transmits the status of the keys of the operating device20 to CPU 51. Accordingly, the instructions from the game player areinput to the CPU 51, and the CPU 51 performs the processingcorresponding to the instructions from the game player on the basis ofthe game program being executed.

[0073] In the foregoing description, an embodiment of the hardwareconstruction which can implement the functional construction of FIG. 2is shown. However, the hardware construction which can implement thepresent invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example,the present invention may be broadly applied to a constructioncontaining an entertainment system (containing an information processingunit) which can execute various application program games which are notlimited to TV games.

What is claimed is:
 1. A character display method for making anentertainment apparatus perform the display processing of varying thefacial expression of a character displayed on a display screen from afirst facial expression to a second facial expression, comprising: aread step of reading image data of the first facial expression in whichplural control points are set, image data of the second facialexpression in which plural control points are set, and image data of athird facial expression used when the facial expression of the characteris varied; a first setting step of setting the same number of controlpoints as those of the image data of the first facial expression to theimage data of the third facial expression; a first morphing step ofgenerating image data of a sequence of facial expressions appearingbetween the image data of the first facial expression and the image dataof the third facial expression on the basis of the control points of theimage data of the first facial expression and the control points of theimage data of the third facial expression after the first settingprocessing; a second setting step of newly setting the same number ofcontrol points as those of the image data of the second facialexpression to the image data of the third facial expression after thefirst morphing step; and a second morphing step of generating the imagedata of a sequence of facial expressions appearing between the imagedata of the third facial expression and the image data of the secondfacial expression on the basis of the control points of the image dataof the third facial expression and the control points of the image dataof the second facial expression after the second setting processing. 2.A character display method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising: astep of making the entertainment system hold first informationindicating the current facial expression of the character; a step ofmaking the entertainment system read second information indicating thefacial expression of the character after an action on the characteroccurs; a step of making the entertainment system execute the firstsetting step, the first morphing step, the second setting step and thesecond morphing step, while setting the facial expression indicated bythe first information as the first facial expression and the facialexpression indicated by the second information as the second facialexpression, if the facial expression indicated by the first informationis different from the facial expression indicated by the secondinformation when the action on the character occurs.
 3. An informationrecording medium having a program recorded therein, the program enablinga program-executable system to execute the processing of varying thefacial expression of a character displayed on a display screen from afirst facial expression to a second facial expression, the recordingmedium recording therein: image data of the first facial expression inwhich plural control points are set, image data of the second facialexpression in which plural control points are set and image data of athird facial expression used when the facial expression of the characteris varied, wherein the program comprises, as processing to be executedby the system: processing of reading the image data of the first facialexpression, the image data of the second facial expression and the imagedata of the third facial expression; first setting processing of settingthe same number of control points as those of the image data of thefirst facial expression to the image data of the third facialexpression; first morphing processing of generating image data of asequence of facial expressions appearing between the image data of thefirst facial expression and the image data of the third facialexpression on the basis of the control points of the image data of thefirst facial expression and the control points of the image data of thethird facial expression after the first setting step; second settingprocessing of newly setting the same number of control points as thoseof the image data of the second facial expression to the image data ofthe third facial expression after the first morphing processing; andsecond morphing processing of generating the image data of a sequence offacial expressions appearing between the image data of the third facialexpression and the image data of the second facial expression on thebasis of the control points of the image data of the third facialexpression and the control points of the image data of the second facialexpression after the second setting processing is executed.
 4. Arecording medium as claimed in claim 3 , storing therein secondinformation indicating the facial expression of the character after anaction on the character occurs, the program comprising: processing ofmaking the system hold first information indicating the current facialexpression of the character, and processing of making the system executethe first setting processing, the first morphing processing, the secondsetting processing and the second morphing processing, while setting thefacial expression indicated by the first information as the first facialexpression and the facial expression indicated by the second informationas the second facial expression, if the facial expression indicated bythe first information is different from the facial expression indicatedby the second information when the action on the character occurs.
 5. Anentertainment system for providing with a video game in which charactersare displayed, comprising: storage means for storing image data ofplural facial expressions each containing control points associated withplural sites for every character, and also storing the reference imagedata of a facial expression serving as a reference when the facialexpression of the character is varied; and executing means whichallocates the same number of control points as control points allocatedto the image data before the variation to the reference image data,executing morphing processing of setting the image data before thevariation and the reference image data as the first frame and the lastframe respectively and then generating a sequence of frames between thefirst frame and the last frame on the basis of the control points,thereby obtaining and animated image data of scene in which the facialexpression is varied from the first frame to the last frame, allocatingto the reference image data control points whose number is equal to thatof control points allocated to image data after the variation, andexecuting morphing processing of generating a sequence of frames fromthe first frame to the last frame on the basis of the control points,while newly setting the reference image data and the image data afterthe variation as the first frame and the last frame respectively,thereby obtaining animated image data of scene in which the facialexpression is varied from the first frame to the last frame.
 6. Anentertainment system as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the storage meansstores information indicating the current facial expression, and storesinformation indicating a facial expression in association with eachaction on the character, and when an action is made on the character,the executing means varies the facial expression of the character fromthe current facial expression to the facial expression corresponding tothe action if the former facial expression is different from the latterfacial expression.
 7. A program for making a program-executable systemto execute processing of varying facial expression of a characterdisplayed on a display screen from a first facial expression to a secondfacial expression, the program comprising, as processing to be executedby the system: processing of reading image data of the first facialexpression in which plural control points are set, image data of thesecond facial expression in which plural control points are set, andimage data of a third facial expression used when the facial expressionof the character is varied; first setting processing of setting the samenumber of control points as those of the image data of the first facialexpression to the image data of the third facial expression; firstmorphing processing of generating image data of a sequence of facialexpressions appearing between the image data of the first facialexpression and the image data of the third facial expression on thebasis of the control points of the image data of the first facialexpression and the control points of the image data of the third facialinformation after the first setting processing is executed; secondsetting processing of newly setting the same number of control points asthose of the image data of the second facial expression to the imagedata of the third facial expression after the first morphing processingis executed; and second morphing processing of generating image data ofa sequence of facial expressions appearing between the image data of thethird facial expression and the image data of the second facialexpression on the basis of the control points of the image data of thethird facial expression and the control points of the image data of thesecond facial expression after the second setting processing isexecuted.
 8. A program as claimed in claim 7 , further comprising, asthe processing to be executed by the system: processing of holding firstinformation indicating the current facial expression of the character;and processing of reading second information indicating the facialexpression of the character after an action on the character occurs;wherein if the facial expression indicated by the first information isdifferent from the facial expression indicated by the second informationwhen the action on the character occurs, the facial expression indicatedby the first information is set as the first facial expression and thefacial expression indicated by the second information is set as thesecond facial expression, and makes the system execute the first settingprocessing, the first morphing processing, the second setting processingand the second morphing processing.
 9. A program for enabling aprogram-executable system to execute processing of varying shape of apattern displayed on a display screen from a first shape to a secondshape, comprising, as processing to be executed by the system: readprocessing of reading image data representing the pattern having thefirst shape in which plural control points are set, image datarepresenting the pattern having the second shape in which plural controlpoints are set, and image data representing the pattern having a thirdshape used when the shape of the pattern is varied; first settingprocessing of setting the same number of control points as those of theimage data of the pattern having the first shape to the image data ofthe pattern having the third shape; first morphing processing ofgenerating image data of a sequence of pattern shapes appearing betweenthe image data of the pattern having the first shape and the image dataof the pattern having the third shape on the basis of the control pointsof the image data of the pattern having the first shape and the controlpoints of the image data of the pattern having the third shape after thefirst setting processing is executed; second setting processing of newlysetting the same number of control points as those of the image data ofthe pattern having the second shape to the image data of the patternhaving the third shape after the first morphing processing is executed;and second morphing processing of generating image data of a sequence ofpattern shapes appearing between the image data of the pattern havingthe third shape and the image data of the pattern having the secondshape on the basis of the control points of the image data of thepattern having the third shape and the control points of the image dataof the pattern having the second shape after the second settingprocessing is executed.
 10. A program as claimed in claim 9 , furthercomprising, as the processing to be executed by the system: processingof holding first information indicating the current shape of the patternon the display screen; and processing of reading second informationindicating the shape after the variation of the pattern; wherein if theshape indicated by the first information is different from the shapeindicated by the second information when an event providing a starttiming to vary the shape of the pattern occurs, the shape indicated bythe first information is set as the first shape, the shape indicated bythe second information is set as the second shape, and makes the systemexecute the first setting processing, the first morphing processing, thesecond setting processing and the second morphing processing.
 11. Arecording medium having a program recorded therein, the program making aprogram-executable system execute processing of varying the shape of apattern displayed on a display screen from a first shape to a secondshape, the recording medium recording therein; image data representingthe pattern having the first shape in which plural control points areset, image data representing the pattern having the second shape inwhich plural control points are set and image data representing thepattern having a third shape used when the shape of the pattern isvaried, wherein the program comprises, as the processing to be executedby the system: read processing of reading the image data of the patternhaving the first shape, the image data of the pattern having the secondshape and the image data of the pattern having the third shape; firstsetting processing of setting the same number of control points as thoseof the image data of the pattern having the first shape to the imagedata of the pattern having the third shape; first morphing processing ofgenerating image data of a sequence of pattern shapes appearing betweenthe image data of the pattern having the first shape and the image dataof the pattern having the third shape on the basis of the control pointsof the image data of the pattern having the first shape and the controlpoints of the image data of the pattern having the third shape after thefirst setting processing is executed; second setting processing of newlysetting the same number of control points as those of the image data ofthe pattern having the second shape to the image data of the patternhaving the third shape after the first morphing processing is executed;and second morphing processing of generating image data of a sequence ofpattern shapes appearing between the image data of the pattern havingthe third shape and the image data of the pattern having the secondshape on the basis of the control points of the image data of thepattern having the third shape and the control points of the image dataof the pattern having the second shape after the second settingprocessing is executed.
 12. A recording medium as claimed in claim 11 ,which stores therein second information indicating the shape into whichthe pattern is varied, the program further comprising: processing ofmaking the system hold first information representing the current shapeof the pattern on the display screen; and processing of executing thefirst setting processing, the first morphing processing, the secondsetting processing and the second morphing processing, while setting theshape indicated by the first information as the first shape and theshape indicated by the second information as the second shape, if theshape indicated by the first information is different from the shapeindicated by the second information when an event providing a starttiming to vary the shape of the pattern occurs.
 13. An entertainmentsystem for displaying a pattern on a display screen, comprising: storagemeans which stores image data representing the pattern having a firstshape to which plural control points are set, image data representingthe pattern having a second shape in which plural control points areset, and image data representing the pattern having a third shape usedwhen the shape of the pattern on the display screen is varied; andexecuting means for setting the same number of control points as thoseof the image data of the pattern having the first shape to the imagedata of the pattern having the third shape, generating image data of asequence of pattern shapes appearing between the image data of thepattern having the first shape and the image data of the pattern havingthe third pattern on the basis of the control points of the image dataof the pattern having the first shape and the control points of theimage data of the pattern having the third shape, newly setting the samenumber of control points as those of the image data of the patternhaving the second shape to the image data of the pattern having thethird shape, and then generating image data of a sequence of patternshapes appearing between the image data of the pattern having the thirdshape and the image data of the pattern having the second shape on thebasis of the control points of the image data of the pattern having thethird shape and the control points of the image data of the patternhaving the second shape.
 14. An entertainment system as claimed in claim13 , wherein the storing means stores first information representing thecurrent shape of the pattern on the display screen, and secondinformation representing the shape into which the pattern is varied, andthe executing means, while setting the shape indicated by the firstinformation and the shape indicated by the second information as thefirst shape and the second shape respectively, executes the firstsetting processing, the first morphing processing, the second settingprocessing and the second morphing processing, if the shape indicated bythe first information is different from the shape indicated by thesecond information when an event providing a start timing to vary theshape of the pattern occurs.
 15. A pattern display method for making anentertainment system execute processing to vary the shape of a patterndisplayed on a display screen from a first shape to a second shape,comprising: a read step of reading image data representing the patternhaving the first shape in which plural control points are set, imagedata representing the pattern having the second shape in which pluralcontrol points are set, and image data representing the pattern having athird shape used when the shape of the pattern on the display screen isvaried; a first setting step of setting the same number of controlpoints as those of the image data of the pattern having the first shapeto the image data of the pattern having the third shape; a firstmorphing step of generating image data of a sequence of pattern shapesappearing between the image data of the pattern having the first shapeand the image data of the pattern having the third shape on the basis ofthe control points of the image data of the pattern having the firstshape and the control points of the image data of the pattern having thethird shape after the first setting step is executed; a second settingstep of newly setting the same number of control points as those of theimage data of the pattern having the second shape to the image data ofthe pattern having the third shape after the first morphing step isexecuted; and a second morphing step of generating image data of asequence of pattern shapes appearing between the image data of thepattern having the third shape and the image data of the pattern havingthe second shape on the basis of the control points of the image data ofthe pattern having the third shape and the control points of the imagedata of the pattern having the second shape after the second settingprocessing is executed.
 16. A pattern display method as claimed in claim15 , further comprising: a step of making the entertainment system holdfirst information representing the current shape of the pattern on thedisplay screen; a step of making the entertainment system read secondinformation representing the shape of the pattern into which the patternis varied; and a step of making the entertainment system carry out thefirst setting processing, the first morphing processing, the secondsetting processing and the second morphing processing while setting theshape indicated by the first information as the first shape and theshape indicated by the second information as the second shape, if theshape indicated by the first information is different from the shapeindicated by the second information when an event providing a starttiming to vary the shape of the pattern occurs.